The Day Came
by Pensola
Summary: Tensou Sentai Goseiger, post finale. Hyde is back at Gosei World to finally tell Magis' parents of their son's death. Should now be fixed from the coding mix.


The portal to Gosei World was opened and stabilized, and the Goseigers had separated to explore and learn more about the Earth. Hyde was planning on doing the same thing; he wanted to properly study the nature of Earth's ocean, but first, he had something else to do another place.

Now, Hyde was landing at a seahouse, a traditional Seaick house where the entrance was over the surface but the rest of the house was actually underwater, and called off his wings in a short flash of light. He looked at the naming tag on the door, and recognized the family shield. His heart was pumping harder than it ever had before, his brain doing its hardest to ignore it as he rung the electric bell and waited.

He did not have to wait long before the door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman Hyde instantly recognized as Magis' mother.

Looking at her eyes and seeing the surprise in them, Hyde just wanted to flap his wings and fly off again; go back to the surface world, hope for another crisis that destroys the Heavenly Tower and unfortunately forces him to delay this dreaded visit. Long ago, he had told Nozomu that he would be ready for this, but he had calculated wrongly.

"Hyde," a voice said, with a tone surprisingly formal considering their situation. "It… it really is you." He tried to study her face, to get a hold on her features and reactions. Her face had gained more wrinkles and bags since last time he saw her four years ago, those on her forehead indicated a lot of worried nights. The initial reaction upon seeing him had faded; now her mouth was closed, her brows down in a neat and controlled downward way. It had been so long since Hyde had met another Seaick tribesman, he had almost forgotten their typical, neutral politeness.

"I'm-" he stopped himself before he could say anything more. He could not start all this by saying he was sorry. Sorry did not cover it. He had to do better. "Is it possible… that is… It has been a long time, ma'am."

For a long time they stared in each other's eyes, before the woman broke contact to lean a little to the side. His heart wrenched when he realized she was looking for something behind him. Someone. Hyde fought against biting his lower lip. Not finding what she was looking for, she took a quick look over at Hyde, examining his body. "You have grown," she stated, nodding in a way of approval. "You have gotten stronger."

"Yes."

It was silent for a few seconds, Hyde literally wanting to just fall into the ocean and never come back. Thankfully, the woman decided to be blunt when she spoke next.

"Why are you here, Hyde?"

He looked down, trying to find other things to look at than her face. He saw her shoulders and arms, still strong with muscles despite her age. The shoulders were clearly carrying a couple of large, unsummoned wings. Both Magis' parents had been Goseigers in their time, and though Hyde had never personally seen her wings, he did not doubt Magis when he talked about their majestic presence.

"I would like to talk to you and your husband, if that is all right." Sighing, he inhaled breath and looked up at her again. "It is about Magis."

Her eyes lit up, but what he saw was not hope. It was a mother's wisdom. She knows, he realized as his heart fell. Of course she would know, what was he expecting? It had been a whole year, it would only make sense that they would have come to the conclusion at some point.

The woman widened the door gap and moved to the side. "Please," she began, her controlled voice betraying something else behind them. "Come in. My husband is down in the evening room."

With careful steps, they walked down the stairs as the glass surrounding them revealed the ocean. Seahouses were expensive and showed status, though they would always carry a risk, being underwater, usually a risk people were willing to trade. Hyde had to admit that no matter what could happen, it was nonetheless a beautiful way to watch the life underwater. He had lived by the seashore growing up, and he had always planned on earning enough credits through his Goseiger career that he would get a seahouse for himself one day.

When they got to the living room, he recognized the other man about to sit on the couch. Like his wife, he had gained extra wrinkles and bags on his face, and his hair was obviously greying despite the attempted dye. Muscles were still well reflected on him, though not as prominent as hers. He vaguely remembered Magis mention once that his father had sustained an injury in action, which had forced him to retire early.

"Dear," was everything the woman had to say to get the man's attention, and he rose up to turn to her. Noticing the third person in the room, his eyes widened even more when he recognized who it was.

"Hyde," he gasped out, then hurried around the couch to get closer. "You're back." He blinked before taking a hold on Hyde's shoulders, desperation hiding in his eyes. "Is-"

"Dear." The way the woman said it sounded like a warning. The man flinched and let go of his shoulders, and she said with a gentler voice, "Hyde came here to… tell us about Magis."

Immediately the desperation in his eyes was gone, and he let out big breaks of breath. Slowly, he retreated back to the couch for support. Hyde and Magis' mother gave him some seconds before he composed himself. "Please," he then began, now with the typical Seaick tone, "Sit down. I'm… sure you have a lot to say."

"Yes." Quietly, they sat down. The couple sat together in the couch, while he occupied the chair opposite of them. While they found themselves comfortable, Hyde quickly scanned the room. The windows had beautiful scenery of the ocean, with some other seahouses within obscure viewing distance. On the walls were various diplomas the two adults had gained through their careers, and standing beside a picture of them in their indigo and teal Goseiger uniform on a desk were their cards and tensounders. The decks of cards were noticeably bigger than those of Hyde and his friends', though that was to be expected, considering their years of duty.

When he looked back, the two of them sat closely together, holding each other like they were preparing for emotional devastation. It made Hyde's heart break, and he hated himself for delaying this for so long.

"So, Hyde." The father nodded, urging him to begin explaining. Hyde took a deep breath and started. "Please… straight to the point."

"Magis…" He had to swallow a lump he did not know were there. "Last year, Magis and I were training our powers when we felt an evil presence threatening the ocean. We didn't find any other Seaick Goseigers close enough, so we went to investigate, and met this monster named Crisolar of 5000 Celsius who was overheating the ocean. During the battle, Magis and I both lost our powers temporarily, but Magis used the last of his strength to throw himself and the monster off the cliff to stop it." He had to inhale before he could continue. "He… did not survive. Magis was killed in action fourth of February, 2010."

Hearing himself spill these words out, it almost felt like a relief. He had never really told the full story to the other Goseigers, only bits whenever it was absolutely necessary. He had been training by himself for a long time for this moment, imagined all possible scenarios in his head, and yet, looking at the way tears were threatening to leak from the parents' eyes felt like a punch to the guts. He had had a full year to accept Magis' death and come to terms with the fact that he survived and not him, and yet he had forgotten how it could possibly feel for their parents.

The woman gave out a long, shaky sigh. "We… had our suspicions," she began, then corrected herself, "No, saying we knew would be more correct. The news said as early as two weeks after the destruction of the Heavenly Tower that there were only a few surviving gosei-angels left on Earth, all Goseigers-in-training and from various tribes. We hoped with all our hearts that all Seaick tribesmen were alive, but then the Master Head began talking about five survivors being Earth's only protectors against our threat, mentioning their Goseiger codenames. Two from the Skick tribe, two from the Landick tribe… and you. When Magis' name never came up, we were starting to realize what had happened."

"Merma regularly went to the Heavenly Tower to demand information, or get some kind of confirmation on what happened on Earth. However, the government would only give information if both partners were gone, and so they were always silent whenever she visited. At least it was a sign that you were still alive."

In the organization of Goseigers, it had become a tradition that whenever a Goseiger was killed in action or during a mission, it was the duty of the deceased's partner to report this to their family and return their items. They had hoped this rule would encourage the survivors to keep fighting, giving them a reason for going on even without their precious partner. So even if the Master Head had all but laid it clear who had survived on the surface world after the Heavenly Tower's destruction, the parents would have to wait for Hyde to inform them.

"I… I went there every day, just in case…"

"Just in case I had gone down that day," Hyde ended, and he watched Merma put her head down in shame. He did not blame her. If he had died at any point in in their battles, information on the duo's individual demises would immediately become available to both families, though it would take time for them to find a representative to visit them personally, certainly longer than it would take for a strong gosei-angel like Magis' mother to fly every other day to check in on them.

The father coughed to get some attention back to him.

"Did… what did you do after…?" He could not find himself saying the words yet.

"I went to take his… body to a safe hiding place, and looked for his tensounder and his stack of cards to… give back to you. That was when the Heavenly Tower collapsed, and I lost all communication." Hyde shifted his position, uncomfortable. He hated sounding like he made excuses. "I tried for hours, everywhere, but contact was all gone."

"And the funeral?" A pause. "You gave him one, right?"

"Of course," Hyde was quick to answer, almost hurt that Merma had thought he would not provide basic respect for his partner. "As traditional for the Seaick tribe as I could manage on the surface world. But… I waited till the third day before I did it. I tried, I really tried, to find any way for us to return back to Gosei's World, but on the third day, I began finding the materials, just in case." At the last part, he had to shake his head and correct himself. "No, it was a given that we would not be able to find any connection, but I guess I was a little hopeful, even then. So I found all I needed, and as the sun went down, I burned a boat with him in it." He swallowed a new lump. "The pyre was magnificent."

"What was his gravestone?" When tribesmen were being put on a boat to burn, they were usually holding a form for gravestone on their arms. It would most likely just be a stone or the like with the deceased's name on it, and when the boat was burned down, the stone would descend to the bottom of the ocean. The family would keep a replica – either miniature or exact – in their homes as a keepsake.

"It was an oval stone engraved in seashells, as many as I could find." Hyde started to search in his bag for something. Soon, his fingers enclosed around a familiar object, and he took it out and gently handed it to the couple. "This is a smaller replica."

At this, tears were really running down the old man's cheek. "Magis would often claim that would be the type of gravestone he would like to be left with. Always talking about how it was to be like my mother's." He looked up to his eyes. "You honoured him."

"It was-" He wanted to say that it was the least he could have done for his previous partner and best friend. But as he was about to say it, his voice betrayed him, and a little pitch came out instead. He quickly covered his mouth as he tried to compose himself. "I should have done more," he finally got out with a shaky voice. "He deserved a ship, he deserved flowers sprawled all over him, and he deserved a larger gravestone. He didn't deserve what pitiful excuse of a boat he got, he didn't-… he didn't-…" He just could not get the words out anymore. He tried again, but nothing could come out.

"He didn't deserve to die," Merma finished for him, flatly.

"Merma!" Her husband might be a little horrified by the way she had said it, but Hyde was thankful, in a weird way. He had hated himself for so long after Magis' death, he had wanted to repent in so many ways, but never knowing how to do it without disrespecting his memory. When he joined the surviving gosei-angels, he had wanted them to punish or shun him for letting his partner down, even though they never did. It was kind of nice, to be blamed, though he would never say that to anyone.

Merma kept looking at him, then down at the miniature gravestone, before sighing.

"I remember when we met you the first time. We were at the academy with Magis so that he could be assigned his partner. Our other children already had their partners, and Magis did not have any particular friend he would prefer to partner up with, so we were excited to see who the council had assigned him. When we saw you, you were so composed on your chair, looking straight ahead silently until asked otherwise. An ideal Seaick child, some would say." A strained chuckle escaped her. "After we parted ways, Magis was so nervous he had offended you, or if the council had made some mistake pairing you two together; he thought you were disappointed with him."

Hyde widened his eyes at this revelation. They had met when they were sixteen, and Magis had never told him anything about it before. Of course, it made sense since it was never relevant, but still, to imagine the cool, confident child of two previous goseigers being nervous about him of all people was shocking. Thinking back to when they were sixteen and meeting each other, he had been in awe of Magis and his heritage, and his childish but somewhat showy confidence, which usually would have started deteriorating at his age when part of the Seaick tribe. The shark-wielder had never been doubtful of the council's decision, and always assumed Magis thought the same. But that was a problem of his Agri always pointed out; he had a tendency to expect everyone to think the same as him.

"I never doubted," he then said, looking at both of them. "Magis being my partner was the best that ever happened to me as a goseiger." Merma nodded.

"After your training started, Magis would only sing praises about you, and the few times we saw you together after that, it was clear that you had bonded properly. Before then, it was almost amusing watching him worry around, since none in our family have experience in our partners being strangers; Mantis and I were friends, and Magis' sisters paired up, so we had no idea how to handle the usually confident Magis being so out of touch. But when your class started your training on the surface world, we were sure you would do wonders." Hyde nodded solemnly.

"In truth," Mantis began with a heavy tone, leaning to his knuckled hands, "When we first heard the names and they refused to tell us anything, I… I was very angry with you, Hyde. For so long, we were waiting for news on our son, but nothing came. And then, we heard news of a portal temporarily opening, a way for you to return to your people and for you to tell us face to face. When you never came, I… I started to resent you." He looked up to him, but there were no anger in his eyes, only confusion. "Why? Why didn't you come? Why did you wait until now to tell us? Didn't you realize we were here, waiting for you to come back, to give us closure? Why didn't you come back the minute it was safe to, instead of spending time with Skicks and Landicks? Didn't you understand that we were waiting for our son?"

The man began was so close to falling apart, Hyde saw horrified. To help the Seaick husband, Merma moved her arms to embrace him, whispering words into his ear. The youngest in the room felt like he was invading, but he could not leave. While there were reasons to why he had not come before now, they were in no way excuses, and even though Hyde felt like his heart was being stabbed, he was obliged to endure this. It was the least he deserved.

"I know," the older man began after a while, "I know that the portal had to be carefully calculated to work and that you, as the only gosei-angels left, had a sense of duty to stay. I understand that Earth needed you more. I-I just… we waited. We waited for so long." He let out a long, frustrated yet sad sigh. "The system has stopped many Goseigers from committing suicide, but it is flawed and unfair to the families that way." Hyde decided to never tell Mantis how the tradition had actually kept his spirits up while stranded on Earth.

"Hyde," Merma said, and the attention shifted to her. "What we are trying to say is that we have known for a long time, and we understand." But voice was monotone, like she had been practicing this line to heart. Yet, there was a sort of peace in it. "We have talked and hoped and accepted and waited. Now that the confirmation is here, I admit we did not take it as I thought, but… we don't blame you."

She leaned closer to Hyde, her eyes demanding him to look into them. "Do you understand me, Hyde?" she said, her voice back to a clear, strict voice. "We do not blame you for what happened. And now we know that Magis protected Earth to his last breath. No parent could be prouder of their Goseiger son."

"He smiled," the young man blurted before he could stop himself. "When I found him, he opened his eyes and smiled before..."

At this, Mantis cracked a tiny, proud smile. "Of course he did." Then he sighed and let his head hang down. For a few seconds, there was silent. Hyde almost found it a little serene when Merma eventually broke it.

"Hyde, you have told us of our son's demise, like you were supposed to as his surviving partner. We will tell our other children when they return from their duties. Now that we finally know what happened, we would like to officially mourn him… in peace."

Hyde did not need to be a genius to understand what she meant. Seaicks rarely liked to show raw emotion before others; it showed vulnerability and was considered almost as private as a display of their wings. For him, who was not part of their innermost circle, to stay to witness it would be offending. So with that in mind, he rose and straightened up.

"I understand," he began, his voice hopefully calm and collected. "I will walk myself out. Thank you for your time." He took a long, respectful bow before his legs moved past the couple on the couch, and as he took his first steps up the stairs, he was thinking about apologizing. But he did not stop to say anything. Prolonging his stay now would be meaningless. When they were ready to speak to him again, they would. The other Goseigers would call it cold and unhappy, but it was how they did it in the Seaick tribe.

When he was up the stairs and out of the seahouse, he could hear the two adults start crying as he closed the door. Hyde inhaled the fresh sea wind, his short hair dancing a little along, before he summoned his wings and jumped into the air.


End file.
